Surviving the endometriosis diet!!

raggydoll_2

I have had endometriosis for several years now, i was diagnosed by laparoscopy about 5 years ago but have probably had since my periods first started at 11. In my case it has grown into my bladder and that is what causes most of my pain. I am also trying for a baby at the moment after a recent miscarriage so i want to give my body the best chance of both carrying a baby to term and of recovering from the endo during the break that pregnancy will hopefully bring from it. I think i've had another kind of lightbulb moment and decided to take control of this condition for myself instead of it controlling my life.

So i was wondering whether there are any other sufferers on here that have tried the diet? I have just ordered 4 different books from Amazon including one on nutrition and endo and one book of recipes for endo. I know i am going to find the diet really hard but i figure if i can manage to stick to it as rigidly as possible for a couple of months and decide whether the sacrifice is worth it then i can decide how strict i need to be. If it gives me relief from the pain then it is definitely worth it!

So to the questions - if you have tried the diet, how did you find it? how did you cope with it? did it work? did you find any tasty recipes that you are wiling to share?? I'm worried i am going to end up living of cardboard for the rest of my life .

For anyone not familiar with the diet it might be similar to diets for other things im not sure. I dont have the book yet but from what i can gather from the internet research i have done it involves cooking everything from scratch which thanks to this forum i am already well used to. It also involves eating a wide variety of raw fruit and vegetables, no processed or refined foods, no red meat, wheat, alcohol or caffeine, reducing dairy, salt, sugar, fat and everything else that tastes nice!!

artichoke

hi

i don't have endometriosis but i did change my diet and followed a specail 'fertility' diet whilst waiting for ivf treatment - which was supposed to regulate my hormones and improve fertility...

it was sensible eating and cooking - very similar to the 'eat your way through the menopause' book by marilyn glenville.

lots of phytoestrogens - plant hormones - legumes such as lntils, chichpeas, lots of seeds and sprouting seeds, garlic celery

and lots of rasberry leaf tea but only to drink in the first half of your cycle up to ovulation...

also i was drinking 4 litres of water a day, no caffeine or alcohol (glass of red wine as very rare treat)

anyway i felt loads better and despite having previous failed ivf's and 5 years of trying to conceive, i had ivf again and got pg :j and had very healthy girl and then got pg again NATURALLY:j :j :j :j as soon as my little girl cut down on breastfeeding

and so i have two wonderful children who are very close in age :j

good luck

art

painted_lady

Have you tried the endometriosis society website? They have message forums and there are a lot of people who have tried this diet.

angelavdavis

Thanks artichoke,

Am just about to start IVF too.

Have been taking wheatgrass supplements in addition to my five a day.

Have cut out caffeine and diet drinks too.

Didn't know about raspberry leaf tea.

Patchwork_Quilt

I would definitely recommend giving up wheat. I posted about this before but I have had pain and irregular bleeding for the last 17 years and no-one can find out what it is. Nothing I have done or taken has worked - except when I gave up wheat last year. The pain has virtually gone. That's amazing, because it was getting the better of me. I'm keeping a food diary at the moment but even if I have just a little bread, it all comes back. I eat everything else I used to, including red meat, alcohol, and all the other things you mention.

Just try giving up the wheat first.

I got the idea from an article in Prima. This woman had exactly the same symptoms as me and she had gone to see Dian Shepperson Mills, who is a nutritionist. This woman was told to give up wheat and citrus fruit.

It's very hard in one respect, because I'm sure people think I'm being fussy. I had a blood test recently to see if I was actually allergic to wheat and it came out negative. On the other hand, I was facing spending the rest of my life on painkillers and I didn't want that.

Thanks for starting up this thread.